‘Region to emerge as major power hub’
Avtar Bhat
KISHTWAR, Nov 11 : Alleging that Kishtwar has been totally neglected before 2014 by the erstwhile State and Central Governments for vote politics, Union Minister of State in PMO with Independent Charge of Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh today said that this hilly region saw the real development after Narendra Modi came to power at Centre in 2014.
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Talking to reporters during his visit to Paddar near here, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the development of this region was not any priority for Congress and National Conference (NC) which ruled J&K for over six decades so they did not show interest in construction of power projects, roads and colleges in this belt.
“This all was done for vote politics by the successive State Governments of NC and Congress during their rule, but situation has totally changed after 2014 when Narendra Modi took reigns of the Government and he made a commitment that the development of hitherto neglected and backward areas will be the priority of his Government,” he said.
Dr Jitendra Singh said situation has changed to such an extent that Kishtwar will emerge as North India’s power hub as one after another power project in this district was cleared by Modi Government which were deliberately kept in limbo by previous rulers both in the erstwhile State as well as Centre.
“Today Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar is all set to emerge North India’s major “power hub” generating around 6,000 MW of power after the completion of the ongoing power projects”, the Minister said.
He said that the mindset of the previous rulers can be gauged from the fact that they abandoned the work on Rattle Power Project during their rule because they don’t want the development of this region or making the State self sufficient in power generation. It was only the Modi Government which not only revived this project but also sanctioned other major projects of the district which were deliberately put in limbo by these parties during their rule, he added.
Dr Jitendra Singh, who was on an extensive tour of the remote and peripheral areas of the hilly district of Kishtwar, visited Gulabgarh in the Paddar area and far-off village of Massu, where he also inaugurated the new School set up by “Shiksha Bharti” for the village children.
During his address at public meeting , Dr Jitendra Singh said that six to seven major hydro power projects have come in the region in a short span of nine to 10 years ever since Narendra Modi took over as the Prime Minister.
Elaborating, he pointed out that the largest capacity project is Pakal Dul with a capacity of 1000 MW. Its estimated cost, as of now, is Rs.8,112.12 crore and expected timeline of competition is 2025. Another major project is Kiru Hydroelectric project with a capacity of 624 MW. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 4,285.59 crore and the timeline in this case is also 2025, he said.
The Minister further informed that at the same time, 850 MW Ratle project has been revived as a joint venture between the Centre and UT of J&K. In addition, the existing Dulhasti Power Station has an installed capacity of 390 MW, while Dulhasti II Hydroelectric Project will have a capacity of 260 MW.
Dr Jitendra Singh said these projects shall not only augment the power supply position thereby making up for the shortage of power supply in the UT of J&K , but the huge investment being made for construction of these projects is also a boost for direct as well as indirect opportunities for the local people.
For six long decades, said Dr Jitendra Singh, the successive governments at the Centre and the State had ignored Kishtwar region because of their vote bank politics. It was only after Prime Minister Modi took over that he changed the work culture and ensured that all neglected regions would be given their due attention and priority so that they may also rise to the same level.
For example, he said, for several years, people here had been agitating and demanding a Degree college for Paddar but Congress and National Conference governments deliberately ignored this demand. It was only after Prime Minister, Narendra Modi took over in 2014 that a Degree college was sanctioned for Paddar under Centre’s scheme RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan).
Citing another example, Dr Jitendra Singh said that before 2014, road travel to Kishtwar was cumbersome and on the slightest landside, the Doda-Kishtwar road got blocked. But today, the road travel time from Jammu to Kishtwar has reduced from over seven hours in 2014 to less than five hours now. Similarly, he said, during these over nine years, Kishtwar has come up on the Aviation Map of India and has been sanctioned an airport under Centre’s UDAAN Scheme, which nobody had ever imagined.
Similarly, Dr Jitendra Singh said, three new National Highways including Khilani-Sudhmahadev Highway, a series of Degree Colleges, mobile towers enroute Machail Yatra and other remote areas have also come up during the Modi Government, he said.
As for Machail, Dr Jitendra Singh said, mobile towers have been set up, multiple toilet complexes constructed and solar plants installed from his CDF for regular power supply, and all this happened only after 2014. Not only this, the motorable road to Machail is under fast track construction and the day is not far when Kisthwar to Machail travel would be just about two hours, he added.
The Union Minister, who is also a known Physician and Diabetologist, also participated in the Multi Speciality Medical Camp organised by the Indian Army at village Gulabgarh.
Later, Dr Jitendra Singh held public interactions in remote village Massu as well as in Gulabgarh, in the presence of the district administration officers. He also addressed the local PRIs including BDC members, councillors, Sarpanches as well as prominent activists of the region.
Meanwhile, the Multi speciality medical camp organised by the Army at Gulabgarh provided medical care to nearly 2,000 patients. All the villagers registered for the camp were ushered to General OPD, where Medical Officers and Specialists elicited the clinical details and advised investigations, where required. The cases of Anaemia, Hypertension, Diabetes, Migraine, Cervical Spondylosis and Pulmonary Tuberculosis were diagnosed and managed. The Medical Specialist provided consultation and treatment to the patients. Patients with diabetes were counselled for dietary modification. Patients with known Hypertension were educated about the diseases and their antihypertensive medications were optimised as per their recorded BP in camp with healthy dietary advice. Patients with tuberculosis were counselled for anti-tubercular drug treatment with advice to follow up at DOTS Centers.
Dr Jitendra Singh complimented the Army and the team led by Major General, Shivendra Singh for providing the much needed medical facilities to this remote hilly rural area. He said the people of this region are eagerly thankful to the Army who has stood by them during the time of terrorism and also come forward to serve them at the time of peace.
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